Because of my delicate upbringing, I have a paucity of swear words. Now that we have switched to Spanish, I know a few. My high school Physics teacher’s favorite imprecation was “gatos y perritos”. Colorado (as an expression of exasperation), Chihuahua (as a taunt of shame), and cabrío (as an insult) are frequently used in Tex Mex.

Perry Lassiter wrote:Etymology aside, I have the distinct impression that "bloody" was among the worst swear words in Britain. How about it, Englanders? What say you?

It certainly used to be among the worst. The single occurrence of the phrase "Not bloody likely!" in George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion caused uproar when it was first performed in 1913. More recently, the British TV sitcom Till Death Us Do Part (1965-75) featured a loud-mouthed Cockney character, Alf Garnett, who used "bloody" continually. That also caused much more controversy than it would do today. As call_copse pointed out in this thread, it is a fairly mild swear word these days.

I remember hearing someone say "She has a voice like a bloody chainsaw". It struck me that the remark would be much less funny without the "bloody". Likewise in Michael Caine's celebrated line in the film The Italian Job: "You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!" The word acts like a well-timed drum beat on an important chord in a piece of music.

With regard to Philip Hudson's suggestion that "bloody" is derived from "by our Lady", I have my doubts about this, as "bloody" is never used on its own, as are "blimey", "crikey", "zounds" and the like. It is always used either as an adjective before a noun, or as an adverb before a verb/adjective/adverb.